From the earliest moments that Sparks of Tomorrow began to play on the many projector screens across the Anime Expo panel room, I felt certain that this would be one of, if not the, best anime this season. The project adapts Hiro Yuki’s novel 20 Seiki Denki Mokuroku and was originally announced in 2018, with animation to be done by Kyoto Animation. Expectations were high for those aware of how long it’d been since the anime project had first been announced. And for those just curious to see what KyoAni was capable of, the chatter amongst the crowd shuffling in indicated that many expected something on par if not exceeding the other wonderful projects the studio has put out.
The panel consisted of a premiere screening of the first two episodes of Sparks of Tomorrow. Following that was a Q&A segment with Director Minoru Ota and Producer Satori Senami.
The First Two Episodes of Sparks of Tomorrow
Speaking first to the premiere, the first two episodes were, as mentioned previously, incredible. Sparks of Tomorrow is a stunning work of animation and art. The series takes place in early 20th century Kyoto in a version of history where only steam engines had advanced and seen widespread adoption up to that point in time. Electricity, both to the characters of the series and as depicted in its art, is something incredibly novel. Simple lightbulbs scattered above a street have a gentle warmth and radiance to them, with the glow in particular brightening what was often a dark, preceding scene. Soft pulses of light accompany lights turning on to begin with, adding a dynamic element to the already pleasant effects of light and electricity. On screen, characters react to this with wonder and joy, their fear of the dark turning to relief or their fear of death turning to a thrill for life. The showcase of electricity in Sparks of Tomorrow is more than just a microcosm of how impressive new technology can be. It felt like the raw components of hope mapped onto a technological achievement.
As great as the depiction of light from electricity was though, that wasn’t the component that most impressed me. The aspect of Sparks of Tomorrow that did was, without question, the music. I believe this is the first project I’ve heard with music by Hitomi Koto, but if I have my way it definitely won’t be the last. The music of Sparks of Tomorrow leverages multiple parts of a full orchestra and truly delivers the feeling of being a score rather than just a series of songs thrown together. Music doesn’t constantly play in the background, but when it did, it made use of miniature ensembles of different instruments at different points in the episode. A scene where characters are ruffling through a house searching might be accompanied by the pointed notes from a selection of brass instruments, while the journey from one destination to another might be marked by woodwinds, with the low notes of a bassoon blending with the elongated, gentle sound of clarinets. There’s a clear commitment to making the music match many of the sounds of the actual 20th century, and if you told me Koto pulled Debussy out of a time machine to work on this music I might believe you.
Character and plot-wise, I liked the two episodes a lot as well. Without spoiling the finer details, Episode 1 does well to establish the pre-series origins of the protagonist and his brother, introducing the allure of electricity (in this world) and the central pillar of innovation that acts as a guide for a lot of the plot developments early in Sparks of Tomorrow. The episode also introduces a variety of characters and their families / associates. A personal favorite is Yosuke Mizoe, an eccentric type who often throws in English lines, has some of the funniest facial expressions, and functions as an antagonist for the first couple of episodes. Episode 2 involves a lot of chasing as various characters compete to retrieve a catalogue of inventions, with the mystery over exactly what kinds of inventions these might be building over the course of the episode and the chasing giving the anime plenty of opportunity to show off how strong KyoAni’s animation ability is. Contraptions of all kinds are used in Sparks of Tomorrow and animated to great effect, as are machinery like cars and various steam engines. I was pleasantly surprised at how smooth this animation was, with many other projects often having clunky or distracting CG used in places like that.
Staff Q&A
This particular iteration of the Sparks of Tomorrow world premiere tour was the fourth one, and the conversation started by asking both guests how they were enjoying Anime Expo. The series is Ota-san’s directorial debut, and he indicated that he really appreciated the support and encouraging reactions of the global audience across the various premieres. Senami-san similarly expressed appreciation for the audience reactions to the first couple of episodes. Guests are typically backstage during the screening portion of these panels, but Anime Expo guests (and Western convention attendees in general) are pretty loud about their excited “ooh”s, laughter, and overall reactions to works like this.
Both members of staff spent some time going over the story and concept of the series, talking about the duo of brothers who Episode 1 largely focuses on and describing the alternate timeline version of Kyoto that Sparks of Tomorrow takes place in. Ota-san spoke to some of the shows early difficulties, explaining that “One thing when [we] were starting the project was to be aware of the stereotypes and pitfalls that a lot of people have seen in shows,” adding that “it definitely took a lot of time and convincing of the fellow staff members that worked on the show to get behind some of the ideas that they had when in the pre-production of this show.” Senami-san spoke to some of Ota’s idiosyncrasies, but noted that his “personality and individuality come out and shine through the finished product.”
They discussed the shows characters, especially the contrast between Kihachi Sakamoto and Inako Momokawa, who are constantly juxtaposed in the early episodes for their thoughts about religion, technology, progress, and hope. And plenty of time was spent talking about Yosuke, with the crowd bursting into laughter as the host implied the character was his least favorite.
The final sections of the Q&A made use of questions submitted by fans, with the first asking about what in this world should feel familiar and what should feel different, and others asking about conveying the steam technology and putting forward a certain degree of impressionistic-inspired art. Ota-san spoke about breaking free of the bounds of the steampunk aesthetic that that staff started off working with, as well as making sure that a viewer could still tell the story was taking place in Kyoto. For backgrounds, Ota-san explained that he “took up a lot of inspiration from the impressionist style of art” and that, in order to create a unique look for art and backgrounds in Sparks of Tomorrow, the work is “80% digital and 20% analog.” Both guests reinforced that the team behind this anime is truly second to none and that substantial amounts of time and back and forth meetings went into making their vision a reality. And it certainly shows.
Looking Forward for Sparks of Tomorrow
While the show in general has a lot to look forward to if the first two episodes are any indication, the guests pointed to Episode 11 specifically as an episode we watchers should be preparing ourselves for. Overall, I think this is one of the strongest entries from Kyoto Animation in recent years and without question one of the best anime this season. I’m looking forward to future episodes (the first two have released as of the time of publication) and I can’t wait to hear more of the music.
Sparks of Tomorrow premiered globally on Netflix on July 5, 2026, with new episodes scheduled to release weekly every Sunday. You can check it out here.
©Hiro Yuki, Kyoto Animation/Sparks of Tomorrow Production Committee
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